Dynamic, Event-Driven Traffic Control in a Managed Network

ABSTRACT

A gateway device disposed within a managed network may be communicatively coupled to a computational instance of a remote network management platform. The gateway device may also be configured with a list of network addresses assigned to the managed network, and configured to: receive network traffic from computing devices on the managed network, compare source addresses of the network traffic to the network addresses in the list, discard a first unit of the network traffic that has source addresses that are specified in the list, and for a second unit of the network traffic with source addresses that are not specified by the list, (i) encrypt, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the second unit of the network traffic, and (ii) transmit the encrypted packets from the gateway device to the computational instance. Network addresses in the list may be provided by a gateway controller device.

BACKGROUND

A remote network management platform may allocate one or morecomputational instances for a managed network, through which variousaspects of the managed network can be monitored and controlled.Communication between the managed network and the remote networkmanagement platform may take place over a wide-area network such as theInternet. As such, it may be beneficial to route some or all trafficbetween the managed network and remote network management platformthrough a gateway device disposed within the managed network. Thegateway device may apply consistent policies, such as encryption andtraffic control, to this network traffic.

SUMMARY

Remotely managed networks may receive a number of benefits due to theirintegration with a remote network management platform. Some of theseinclude improved workflow, device management, and rapid applicationdeployment. Still, a managed network is subject to unique challengesinherent to this environment.

The managed network may assign one or more subnets of network addressesto its computational instance on the remote network management platform.This way, devices on the managed network can communicate with deviceswithin the computational instance as if these devices were co-locatedand not separated by a wide-area network. The gateway device in themanaged network may route and/or tunnel network traffic between themanaged network and computational instance.

Given this architecture, penetration testing performed by the managednetwork may trigger alarms at the remote network management platform. Inparticular, operators of the managed network may, from time to time,perform automated or semi-automated scans for applications executing ondevices assigned to subnets of the network addresses. The penetrationtesting may seek to reveal whether there are any known or potentialsecurity defects at these devices or applications. Any found defects maybe flagged for further investigation as potential security threats.

While penetration testing is a useful technique for determining thesecurity level of a managed network with respect to various threats, anysuch scans performed against the network addresses assigned to thecomputational instance can be problematic. In particular, the remotenetwork management platform may view these scans as a potential attack;i.e., that an attacker has established a foothold in the managed networkand is seeking to obtain illicit access to the remote network managementplatform. In response, the remote network management platform might shutdown access to part or all of the computational instance, and deployresources to investigate the root cause of the observed threat. In themean time, users of the managed network may be unable to access criticalnetwork services hosted on the computational instance.

The embodiments herein overcome these drawbacks and limitations byallowing the gateway device to be configured with a list of networkaddresses. Any network traffic with a source address on the list and adestination address assigned to the computational instance may bediscarded by the gateway device. Thus, the list can be configured toinclude network addresses of devices that perform penetration testing,as well as those of other devices that do not need to access resourcesof the computational instance.

Furthermore, this list can be dynamically updated based on input fromsecurity devices (e.g., firewalls, intrusion detection systems,intrusion prevention systems, and security policy servers) on themanaged network. In this manner, devices that may be compromised in somefashion can be automatically blocked from accessing the computationalinstance.

Additionally, for transactions involving devices with network addressesthat are not on the list, the gateway device may be configured toencrypt specific data fields and files that are to be stored inassociation with a database in the computational instance. Thus, thegateway may also facilitate storing sensitive data in the computationalinstance in a way that cannot be deciphered by the remote networkmanagement platform.

Accordingly, a first example embodiment may involve a gateway devicedisposed within a managed network and communicatively coupled to acomputational instance of a remote network management platform. Thegateway device may be configured with a list of network addressesassigned to the managed network. The gateway device may be configuredto: receive network traffic from computing devices on the managednetwork, where the network traffic specifies destinations within thecomputational instance; compare source addresses of the network trafficto the network addresses in the list; discard a first unit of thenetwork traffic, where the first unit of the network traffic has sourceaddresses that are specified in the list; and for a second unit of thenetwork traffic with source addresses that are not specified by thelist, (i) encrypt, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the secondunit of the network traffic, and (ii) transmit the encrypted packetsfrom the gateway device to the computational instance. A gatewaycontroller device may be disposed within the managed network andcommunicatively coupled to the gateway device. The gateway controllerdevice may be configured to: obtain security event log data thatspecifies an additional network address assigned to a particularcomputing device on the managed network, where the particular computingdevice is suspected of violating a security policy; and transmit, to thegateway device, an instruction to update the list to include theadditional network address specified by the security event log data.

A second example embodiment may involve receiving, by a gateway devicedisposed within a managed network and communicatively coupled to acomputational instance of a remote network management platform, networktraffic from computing devices on the managed network. The networktraffic may specify destinations within the computational instance. Thegateway device may be configured with a list of network addressesassigned to the managed network. The second example embodiment may alsoinvolve discarding, by the gateway device, a first unit of the networktraffic. The first unit of the network traffic may have source addressesthat are specified in the list. For a second unit of the network trafficwith source addresses that are not specified by the list, the gatewaydevice may (i) encrypt, as a whole, payloads of each packet of thesecond unit of the network traffic, and (ii) transmit the encryptedpackets from the gateway device to the computational instance. Thesecond example embodiment may also involve receiving, by the gatewaydevice and from a gateway controller device, an instruction to updatethe list to include an additional network address. The additionalnetwork address may be derived from security event log data thatspecifies the additional network address. The additional network addressmay be assigned to a particular computing device on the managed networkthat is suspected of violating a security policy. The second exampleembodiment may also involve updating, by the gateway device, the list toinclude the additional network address.

A third example embodiment may involve receiving, by a gateway devicedisposed within a managed network and communicatively coupled to acomputational instance of a remote network management platform, arepresentation of a particular database field or file type. Thecomputational instance may contain a database that defines theparticular database field and/or or supports storage of the file type.The third example embodiment may also involve receiving, by the gatewaydevice, network traffic from computing devices on the managed network.The network traffic may specify destinations within the computationalinstance. The gateway device may be configured with a list of networkaddresses assigned to the managed network. The third example embodimentmay also involve determining, by the gateway device, that a unit of thenetwork traffic has a source address that is not specified in the listand is to be encrypted using a first type of cryptography. The thirdexample embodiment may also involve, possibly in response to determiningthat the unit of the network traffic has the source address that is notspecified in the list, the gateway device: (i) parsing the unit of thenetwork traffic for data classified in the particular database field orthe file type, (ii) individually encrypting the data classified in theparticular database field or the file type using a second type ofcryptography, (iii) encrypting, as a whole, payloads of each packet ofthe unit of the network traffic using the first type of cryptography,and (iv) transmitting the encrypted packets from the gateway device tothe computational instance.

In a fourth example embodiment, an article of manufacture may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon programinstructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform operations in accordance with the first,second, and/or third example embodiment.

In a fifth example embodiment, a computing system may include at leastone processor, as well as memory and program instructions. The programinstructions may be stored in the memory, and upon execution by the atleast one processor, cause the computing system to perform operations inaccordance with the first, second, and/or third example embodiment.

In a sixth example embodiment, a system may include various means forcarrying out each of the operations of the first, second, and/or thirdexample embodiment.

These as well as other embodiments, aspects, advantages, andalternatives will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artby reading the following detailed description, with reference whereappropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, this summary andother descriptions and figures provided herein are intended toillustrate embodiments by way of example only and, as such, thatnumerous variations are possible. For instance, structural elements andprocess steps can be rearranged, combined, distributed, eliminated, orotherwise changed, while remaining within the scope of the embodimentsas claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of a computing device, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic drawing of a server device cluster, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a communication environment involving a remote networkmanagement architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5A depicts another communication environment involving a remotenetwork management architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts traffic control in a managed network, in accordance withexample embodiments.

FIG. 7A depicts provisioning of network addresses into a gateway device,in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 7B also depicts provisioning of network addresses into a gatewaydevice, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 7C depicts a message flow diagram, in accordance with exampleembodiments.

FIG. 8A is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 8B is another flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should beunderstood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein tomean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodimentor feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or features unless stated as such. Thus, other embodimentscan be utilized and other changes can be made without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein.

Accordingly, the example embodiments described herein are not meant tobe limiting. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations. For example, theseparation of features into “client” and “server” components may occurin a number of ways.

Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated ineach of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus,the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one ormore overall embodiments, with the understanding that not allillustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.

Additionally, any enumeration of elements, blocks, or steps in thisspecification or the claims is for purposes of clarity. Thus, suchenumeration should not be interpreted to require or imply that theseelements, blocks, or steps adhere to a particular arrangement or arecarried out in a particular order.

I. INTRODUCTION

A large enterprise is a complex entity with many interrelatedoperations. Some of these are found across the enterprise, such as humanresources (HR), supply chain, information technology (IT), and finance.However, each enterprise also has its own unique operations that provideessential capabilities and/or create competitive advantages.

To support widely-implemented operations, enterprises typically useoff-the-shelf software applications, such as customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) packages. However,they may also need custom software applications to meet their own uniquerequirements. A large enterprise often has dozens or hundreds of thesecustom software applications. Nonetheless, the advantages provided bythe embodiments herein are not limited to large enterprises and may beapplicable to an enterprise, or any other type of organization, of anysize.

Many such software applications are developed by individual departmentswithin the enterprise. These range from simple spreadsheets tocustom-built software tools and databases. But the proliferation ofsiloed custom software applications has numerous disadvantages. Itnegatively impacts an enterprise's ability to run and grow its business,innovate, and meet regulatory requirements. The enterprise may find itdifficult to integrate, streamline and enhance its operations due tolack of a single system that unifies its subsystems and data.

To efficiently create custom applications, enterprises would benefitfrom a remotely-hosted application platform that eliminates unnecessarydevelopment complexity. The goal of such a platform would be to reducetime-consuming, repetitive application development tasks so thatsoftware engineers and individuals in other roles can focus ondeveloping unique, high-value features.

In order to achieve this goal, the concept of Application Platform as aService (aPaaS) is introduced, to intelligently automate workflowsthroughout the enterprise. An aPaaS system is hosted remotely from theenterprise, but may access data, applications, and services within theenterprise by way of secure connections. Such an aPaaS system may have anumber of advantageous capabilities and characteristics. Theseadvantages and characteristics may be able to improve the enterprise'soperations and workflow for IT, HR, CRM, customer service, applicationdevelopment, and security.

The aPaaS system may support development and execution ofmodel-view-controller (MVC) applications. MVC applications divide theirfunctionality into three interconnected parts (model, view, andcontroller) in order to isolate representations of information from themanner in which the information is presented to the user, therebyallowing for efficient code reuse and parallel development. Theseapplications may be web-based, and offer create, read, update, delete(CRUD) capabilities. This allows new applications to be built on acommon application infrastructure.

The aPaaS system may support standardized application components, suchas a standardized set of widgets for graphical user interface (GUI)development. In this way, applications built using the aPaaS system havea common look and feel. Other software components and modules may bestandardized as well. In some cases, this look and feel can be brandedor skinned with an enterprise's custom logos and/or color schemes.

The aPaaS system may support the ability to configure the behavior ofapplications using metadata. This allows application behaviors to berapidly adapted to meet specific needs. Such an approach reducesdevelopment time and increases flexibility. Further, the aPaaS systemmay support GUI tools that facilitate metadata creation and management,thus reducing errors in the metadata.

The aPaaS system may support clearly-defined interfaces betweenapplications, so that software developers can avoid unwantedinter-application dependencies. Thus, the aPaaS system may implement aservice layer in which persistent state information and other data isstored.

The aPaaS system may support a rich set of integration features so thatthe applications thereon can interact with legacy applications andthird-party applications. For instance, the aPaaS system may support acustom employee-onboarding system that integrates with legacy HR, IT,and accounting systems.

The aPaaS system may support enterprise-grade security. Furthermore,since the aPaaS system may be remotely hosted, it should also utilizesecurity procedures when it interacts with systems in the enterprise orthird-party networks and services hosted outside of the enterprise. Forexample, the aPaaS system may be configured to share data amongst theenterprise and other parties to detect and identify common securitythreats.

Other features, functionality, and advantages of an aPaaS system mayexist. This description is for purpose of example and is not intended tobe limiting.

As an example of the aPaaS development process, a software developer maybe tasked to create a new application using the aPaaS system. First, thedeveloper may define the data model, which specifies the types of datathat the application uses and the relationships therebetween. Then, viaa GUI of the aPaaS system, the developer enters (e.g., uploads) the datamodel. The aPaaS system automatically creates all of the correspondingdatabase tables, fields, and relationships, which can then be accessedvia an object-oriented services layer.

In addition, the aPaaS system can also build a fully-functional MVCapplication with client-side interfaces and server-side CRUD logic. Thisgenerated application may serve as the basis of further development forthe user. Advantageously, the developer does not have to spend a largeamount of time on basic application functionality. Further, since theapplication may be web-based, it can be accessed from anyInternet-enabled client device. Alternatively or additionally, a localcopy of the application may be able to be accessed, for instance, whenInternet service is not available.

The aPaaS system may also support a rich set of pre-definedfunctionality that can be added to applications. These features includesupport for searching, email, templating, workflow design, reporting,analytics, social media, scripting, mobile-friendly output, andcustomized GUIs.

The following embodiments describe architectural and functional aspectsof example aPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantagesthereof.

II. EXAMPLE COMPUTING DEVICES AND CLOUD-BASED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram exemplifying a computing device100, illustrating some of the components that could be included in acomputing device arranged to operate in accordance with the embodimentsherein. Computing device 100 could be a client device (e.g., a deviceactively operated by a user), a server device (e.g., a device thatprovides computational services to client devices), or some other typeof computational platform. Some server devices may operate as clientdevices from time to time in order to perform particular operations, andsome client devices may incorporate server features.

In this example, computing device 100 includes processor 102, memory104, network interface 106, and an input/output unit 108, all of whichmay be coupled by a system bus 110 or a similar mechanism. In someembodiments, computing device 100 may include other components and/orperipheral devices (e.g., detachable storage, printers, and so on).

Processor 102 may be one or more of any type of computer processingelement, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a co-processor (e.g.,a mathematics, graphics, or encryption co-processor), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a network processor, and/or a form of integratedcircuit or controller that performs processor operations. In some cases,processor 102 may be one or more single-core processors. In other cases,processor 102 may be one or more multi-core processors with multipleindependent processing units. Processor 102 may also include registermemory for temporarily storing instructions being executed and relateddata, as well as cache memory for temporarily storing recently-usedinstructions and data.

Memory 104 may be any form of computer-usable memory, including but notlimited to random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), andnon-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk drives, solid statedrives, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and/or tapestorage). Thus, memory 104 represents both main memory units, as well aslong-term storage. Other types of memory may include biological memory.

Memory 104 may store program instructions and/or data on which programinstructions may operate. By way of example, memory 104 may store theseprogram instructions on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, suchthat the instructions are executable by processor 102 to carry out anyof the methods, processes, or operations disclosed in this specificationor the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, memory 104 may include firmware 104A, kernel 104B,and/or applications 104C. Firmware 104A may be program code used to bootor otherwise initiate some or all of computing device 100. Kernel 104Bmay be an operating system, including modules for memory management,scheduling and management of processes, input/output, and communication.Kernel 104B may also include device drivers that allow the operatingsystem to communicate with the hardware modules (e.g., memory units,networking interfaces, ports, and busses), of computing device 100.Applications 104C may be one or more user-space software programs, suchas web browsers or email clients, as well as any software libraries usedby these programs. Memory 104 may also store data used by these andother programs and applications.

Network interface 106 may take the form of one or more wirelineinterfaces, such as Ethernet (e.g., Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, andso on). Network interface 106 may also support communication over one ormore non-Ethernet media, such as coaxial cables or power lines, or overwide-area media, such as Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) ordigital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. Network interface 106 mayadditionally take the form of one or more wireless interfaces, such asIEEE 802.11 (Wifi), BLUETOOTH®, global positioning system (GPS), or awide-area wireless interface. However, other forms of physical layerinterfaces and other types of standard or proprietary communicationprotocols may be used over network interface 106. Furthermore, networkinterface 106 may comprise multiple physical interfaces. For instance,some embodiments of computing device 100 may include Ethernet,BLUETOOTH®, and Wifi interfaces.

Input/output unit 108 may facilitate user and peripheral deviceinteraction with example computing device 100. Input/output unit 108 mayinclude one or more types of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse,a touch screen, and so on. Similarly, input/output unit 108 may includeone or more types of output devices, such as a screen, monitor, printer,and/or one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Additionally oralternatively, computing device 100 may communicate with other devicesusing a universal serial bus (USB) or high-definition multimediainterface (HDMI) port interface, for example.

In some embodiments, one or more instances of computing device 100 maybe deployed to support an aPaaS architecture. The exact physicallocation, connectivity, and configuration of these computing devices maybe unknown and/or unimportant to client devices. Accordingly, thecomputing devices may be referred to as “cloud-based” devices that maybe housed at various remote data center locations.

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud-based server cluster 200 in accordance withexample embodiments. In FIG. 2, operations of a computing device (e.g.,computing device 100) may be distributed between server devices 202,data storage 204, and routers 206, all of which may be connected bylocal cluster network 208. The number of server devices 202, datastorages 204, and routers 206 in server cluster 200 may depend on thecomputing task(s) and/or applications assigned to server cluster 200.

For example, server devices 202 can be configured to perform variouscomputing tasks of computing device 100. Thus, computing tasks can bedistributed among one or more of server devices 202. To the extent thatthese computing tasks can be performed in parallel, such a distributionof tasks may reduce the total time to complete these tasks and return aresult. For purpose of simplicity, both server cluster 200 andindividual server devices 202 may be referred to as a “server device.”This nomenclature should be understood to imply that one or moredistinct server devices, data storage devices, and cluster routers maybe involved in server device operations.

Data storage 204 may be data storage arrays that include drive arraycontrollers configured to manage read and write access to groups of harddisk drives and/or solid state drives. The drive array controllers,alone or in conjunction with server devices 202, may also be configuredto manage backup or redundant copies of the data stored in data storage204 to protect against drive failures or other types of failures thatprevent one or more of server devices 202 from accessing units ofcluster data storage 204. Other types of memory aside from drives may beused.

Routers 206 may include networking equipment configured to provideinternal and external communications for server cluster 200. Forexample, routers 206 may include one or more packet-switching and/orrouting devices (including switches and/or gateways) configured toprovide (i) network communications between server devices 202 and datastorage 204 via cluster network 208, and/or (ii) network communicationsbetween the server cluster 200 and other devices via communication link210 to network 212.

Additionally, the configuration of cluster routers 206 can be based atleast in part on the data communication requirements of server devices202 and data storage 204, the latency and throughput of the localcluster network 208, the latency, throughput, and cost of communicationlink 210, and/or other factors that may contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency and/or other design goals of thesystem architecture.

As a possible example, data storage 204 may include any form ofdatabase, such as a structured query language (SQL) database. Varioustypes of data structures may store the information in such a database,including but not limited to tables, arrays, lists, trees, and tuples.Furthermore, any databases in data storage 204 may be monolithic ordistributed across multiple physical devices.

Server devices 202 may be configured to transmit data to and receivedata from cluster data storage 204. This transmission and retrieval maytake the form of SQL queries or other types of database queries, and theoutput of such queries, respectively. Additional text, images, video,and/or audio may be included as well. Furthermore, server devices 202may organize the received data into web page representations. Such arepresentation may take the form of a markup language, such as thehypertext markup language (HTML), the extensible markup language (XML),or some other standardized or proprietary format. Moreover, serverdevices 202 may have the capability of executing various types ofcomputerized scripting languages, such as but not limited to Perl,Python, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP),JavaScript, and so on. Computer program code written in these languagesmay facilitate the providing of web pages to client devices, as well asclient device interaction with the web pages.

III. EXAMPLE REMOTE NETWORK MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments. This architecture includes three maincomponents, managed network 300, remote network management platform 320,and third-party networks 340, all connected by way of Internet 350.

Managed network 300 may be, for example, an enterprise network used by abusiness for computing and communications tasks, as well as storage ofdata. Thus, managed network 300 may include various client devices 302,server devices 304, routers 306, virtual machines 308, firewall 310,and/or proxy servers 312. Client devices 302 may be embodied bycomputing device 100, server devices 304 may be embodied by computingdevice 100 or server cluster 200, and routers 306 may be any type ofrouter, switch, or gateway.

Virtual machines 308 may be embodied by one or more of computing device100 or server cluster 200. In general, a virtual machine is an emulationof a computing system, and mimics the functionality (e.g., processor,memory, and communication resources) of a physical computer. Onephysical computing system, such as server cluster 200, may support up tothousands of individual virtual machines. In some embodiments, virtualmachines 308 may be managed by a centralized server device orapplication that facilitates allocation of physical computing resourcesto individual virtual machines, as well as performance and errorreporting. Enterprises often employ virtual machines in order toallocate computing resources in an efficient, as needed fashion.Providers of virtualized computing systems include VMWARE® andMICROSOFT®.

Firewall 310 may be one or more specialized routers or server devicesthat protect managed network 300 from unauthorized attempts to accessthe devices, applications, and services therein, while allowingauthorized communication that is initiated from managed network 300.Firewall 310 may also provide intrusion detection, web filtering, virusscanning, application-layer gateways, and other applications orservices. In some embodiments not shown in FIG. 3, managed network 300may include one or more virtual private network (VPN) gateways withwhich it communicates with remote network management platform 320 (seebelow).

Managed network 300 may also include one or more proxy servers 312. Anembodiment of proxy servers 312 may be a server device that facilitatescommunication and movement of data between managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320, and third-party networks 340. Inparticular, proxy servers 312 may be able to establish and maintainsecure communication sessions with one or more computational instancesof remote network management platform 320. By way of such a session,remote network management platform 320 may be able to discover andmanage aspects of the architecture and configuration of managed network300 and its components. Possibly with the assistance of proxy servers312, remote network management platform 320 may also be able to discoverand manage aspects of third-party networks 340 that are used by managednetwork 300.

Firewalls, such as firewall 310, typically deny all communicationsessions that are incoming by way of Internet 350, unless such a sessionwas ultimately initiated from behind the firewall (i.e., from a deviceon managed network 300) or the firewall has been explicitly configuredto support the session. By placing proxy servers 312 behind firewall 310(e.g., within managed network 300 and protected by firewall 310), proxyservers 312 may be able to initiate these communication sessions throughfirewall 310. Thus, firewall 310 might not have to be specificallyconfigured to support incoming sessions from remote network managementplatform 320, thereby avoiding potential security risks to managednetwork 300.

In some cases, managed network 300 may consist of a few devices and asmall number of networks. In other deployments, managed network 300 mayspan multiple physical locations and include hundreds of networks andhundreds of thousands of devices. Thus, the architecture depicted inFIG. 3 is capable of scaling up or down by orders of magnitude.

Furthermore, depending on the size, architecture, and connectivity ofmanaged network 300, a varying number of proxy servers 312 may bedeployed therein. For example, each one of proxy servers 312 may beresponsible for communicating with remote network management platform320 regarding a portion of managed network 300. Alternatively oradditionally, sets of two or more proxy servers may be assigned to sucha portion of managed network 300 for purposes of load balancing,redundancy, and/or high availability.

Remote network management platform 320 is a hosted environment thatprovides aPaaS services to users, particularly to the operators ofmanaged network 300. These services may take the form of web-basedportals, for instance. Thus, a user can securely access remote networkmanagement platform 320 from, for instance, client devices 302, orpotentially from a client device outside of managed network 300. By wayof the web-based portals, users may design, test, and deployapplications, generate reports, view analytics, and perform other tasks.

As shown in FIG. 3, remote network management platform 320 includes fourcomputational instances 322, 324, 326, and 328. Each of these instancesmay represent a set of web portals, services, and applications (e.g., awholly-functioning aPaaS system) available to a particular customer. Insome cases, a single customer may use multiple computational instances.For example, managed network 300 may be an enterprise customer of remotenetwork management platform 320, and may use computational instances322, 324, and 326. The reason for providing multiple instances to onecustomer is that the customer may wish to independently develop, test,and deploy its applications and services. Thus, computational instance322 may be dedicated to application development related to managednetwork 300, computational instance 324 may be dedicated to testingthese applications, and computational instance 326 may be dedicated tothe live operation of tested applications and services. A computationalinstance may also be referred to as a hosted instance, a remoteinstance, a customer instance, or by some other designation.

The multi-instance architecture of remote network management platform320 is in contrast to conventional multi-tenant architectures, overwhich multi-instance architectures have several advantages. Inmulti-tenant architectures, data from different customers (e.g.,enterprises) are comingled in a single database. While these customers'data are separate from one another, the separation is enforced by thesoftware that operates the single database. As a consequence, a securitybreach in this system may impact all customers' data, creatingadditional risk, especially for entities subject to governmental,healthcare, and/or financial regulation. Furthermore, any databaseoperations that impact one customer will likely impact all customerssharing that database. Thus, if there is an outage due to hardware orsoftware errors, this outage affects all such customers. Likewise, ifthe database is to be upgraded to meet the needs of one customer, itwill be unavailable to all customers during the upgrade process. Often,such maintenance windows will be long, due to the size of the shareddatabase.

In contrast, the multi-instance architecture provides each customer withits own database in a dedicated computing instance. This preventscomingling of customer data, and allows each instance to beindependently managed. For example, when one customer's instanceexperiences an outage due to errors or an upgrade, other computationalinstances are not impacted. Maintenance down time is limited because thedatabase only contains one customer's data. Further, the simpler designof the multi-instance architecture allows redundant copies of eachcustomer database and instance to be deployed in a geographicallydiverse fashion. This facilitates high availability, where the liveversion of the customer's instance can be moved when faults are detectedor maintenance is being performed.

In order to support multiple computational instances in an efficientfashion, remote network management platform 320 may implement aplurality of these instances on a single hardware platform. For example,when the aPaaS system is implemented on a server cluster such as servercluster 200, it may operate a virtual machine that dedicates varyingamounts of computational, storage, and communication resources toinstances. But full virtualization of server cluster 200 might not benecessary, and other mechanisms may be used to separate instances. Insome examples, each instance may have a dedicated account and one ormore dedicated databases on server cluster 200. Alternatively,computational instance 322 may span multiple physical devices.

In some cases, a single server cluster of remote network managementplatform 320 may support multiple independent enterprises. Furthermore,as described below, remote network management platform 320 may includemultiple server clusters deployed in geographically diverse data centersin order to facilitate load balancing, redundancy, and/or highavailability.

Third-party networks 340 may be remote server devices (e.g., a pluralityof server clusters such as server cluster 200) that can be used foroutsourced computational, data storage, communication, and servicehosting operations. These servers may be virtualized (i.e., the serversmay be virtual machines). Examples of third-party networks 340 mayinclude AMAZON WEB SERVICES® and MICROSOFT® Azure. Like remote networkmanagement platform 320, multiple server clusters supporting third-partynetworks 340 may be deployed at geographically diverse locations forpurposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

Managed network 300 may use one or more of third-party networks 340 todeploy applications and services to its clients and customers. Forinstance, if managed network 300 provides online music streamingservices, third-party networks 340 may store the music files and provideweb interface and streaming capabilities. In this way, the enterprise ofmanaged network 300 does not have to build and maintain its own serversfor these operations.

Remote network management platform 320 may include modules thatintegrate with third-party networks 340 to expose virtual machines andmanaged services therein to managed network 300. The modules may allowusers to request virtual resources and provide flexible reporting forthird-party networks 340. In order to establish this functionality, auser from managed network 300 might first establish an account withthird-party networks 340, and request a set of associated resources.Then, the user may enter the account information into the appropriatemodules of remote network management platform 320. These modules maythen automatically discover the manageable resources in the account, andalso provide reports related to usage, performance, and billing.

Internet 350 may represent a portion of the global Internet. However,Internet 350 may alternatively represent a different type of network,such as a private wide-area or local-area packet-switched network.

FIG. 4 further illustrates the communication environment between managednetwork 300 and computational instance 322, and introduces additionalfeatures and alternative embodiments. In FIG. 4, computational instance322 is replicated across data centers 400A and 400B. These data centersmay be geographically distant from one another, perhaps in differentcities or different countries. Each data center includes supportequipment that facilitates communication with managed network 300, aswell as remote users.

In data center 400A, network traffic to and from external devices flowseither through VPN gateway 402A or firewall 404A. VPN gateway 402A maybe peered with VPN gateway 412 of managed network 300 by way of asecurity protocol such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) orTransport Layer Security (TLS). Firewall 404A may be configured to allowaccess from authorized users, such as user 414 and remote user 416, andto deny access to unauthorized users. By way of firewall 404A, theseusers may access computational instance 322, and possibly othercomputational instances. Load balancer 406A may be used to distributetraffic amongst one or more physical or virtual server devices that hostcomputational instance 322. Load balancer 406A may simplify user accessby hiding the internal configuration of data center 400A, (e.g.,computational instance 322) from client devices. For instance, ifcomputational instance 322 includes multiple physical or virtualcomputing devices that share access to multiple databases, load balancer406A may distribute network traffic and processing tasks across thesecomputing devices and databases so that no one computing device ordatabase is significantly busier than the others. In some embodiments,computational instance 322 may include VPN gateway 402A, firewall 404A,and load balancer 406A.

Data center 400B may include its own versions of the components in datacenter 400A. Thus, VPN gateway 402B, firewall 404B, and load balancer406B may perform the same or similar operations as VPN gateway 402A,firewall 404A, and load balancer 406A, respectively. Further, by way ofreal-time or near-real-time database replication and/or otheroperations, computational instance 322 may exist simultaneously in datacenters 400A and 400B.

Data centers 400A and 400B as shown in FIG. 4 may facilitate redundancyand high availability. In the configuration of FIG. 4, data center 400Ais active and data center 400B is passive. Thus, data center 400A isserving all traffic to and from managed network 300, while the versionof computational instance 322 in data center 400B is being updated innear-real-time. Other configurations, such as one in which both datacenters are active, may be supported.

Should data center 400A fail in some fashion or otherwise becomeunavailable to users, data center 400B can take over as the active datacenter. For example, domain name system (DNS) servers that associate adomain name of computational instance 322 with one or more InternetProtocol (IP) addresses of data center 400A may re-associate the domainname with one or more IP addresses of data center 400B. After thisre-association completes (which may take less than one second or severalseconds), users may access computational instance 322 by way of datacenter 400B.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a possible configuration of managed network 300.As noted above, proxy servers 312 and user 414 may access computationalinstance 322 through firewall 310. Proxy servers 312 may also accessconfiguration items 410. In FIG. 4, configuration items 410 may refer toany or all of client devices 302, server devices 304, routers 306, andvirtual machines 308, any applications or services executing thereon, aswell as relationships between devices, applications, and services. Thus,the term “configuration items” may be shorthand for any physical orvirtual device, or any application or service remotely discoverable ormanaged by computational instance 322, or relationships betweendiscovered devices, applications, and services. Configuration items maybe represented in a configuration management database (CMDB) ofcomputational instance 322.

As noted above, VPN gateway 412 may provide a dedicated VPN to VPNgateway 402A. Such a VPN may be helpful when there is a significantamount of traffic between managed network 300 and computational instance322, or security policies otherwise suggest or require use of a VPNbetween these sites. In some embodiments, any device in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 that directly communicates via theVPN is assigned a public IP address. Other devices in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 may be assigned private IPaddresses (e.g., IP addresses selected from the 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255or 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255 ranges, represented in shorthand assubnets 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16, respectively).

IV. EXAMPLE DEVICE, APPLICATION, AND SERVICE DISCOVERY

In order for remote network management platform 320 to administer thedevices, applications, and services of managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320 may first determine what devices arepresent in managed network 300, the configurations and operationalstatuses of these devices, and the applications and services provided bythe devices, and well as the relationships between discovered devices,applications, and services. As noted above, each device, application,service, and relationship may be referred to as a configuration item.The process of defining configuration items within managed network 300is referred to as discovery, and may be facilitated at least in part byproxy servers 312.

For purpose of the embodiments herein, an “application” may refer to oneor more processes, threads, programs, client modules, server modules, orany other software that executes on a device or group of devices. A“service” may refer to a high-level capability provided by multipleapplications executing on one or more devices working in conjunctionwith one another. For example, a high-level web service may involvemultiple web application server threads executing on one device andaccessing information from a database application that executes onanother device.

FIG. 5A provides a logical depiction of how configuration items can bediscovered, as well as how information related to discoveredconfiguration items can be stored. For sake of simplicity, remotenetwork management platform 320, third-party networks 340, and Internet350 are not shown.

In FIG. 5A, CMDB 500 and task list 502 are stored within computationalinstance 322. Computational instance 322 may transmit discovery commandsto proxy servers 312. In response, proxy servers 312 may transmit probesto various devices, applications, and services in managed network 300.These devices, applications, and services may transmit responses toproxy servers 312, and proxy servers 312 may then provide informationregarding discovered configuration items to CMDB 500 for storagetherein. Configuration items stored in CMDB 500 represent theenvironment of managed network 300.

Task list 502 represents a list of activities that proxy servers 312 areto perform on behalf of computational instance 322. As discovery takesplace, task list 502 is populated. Proxy servers 312 repeatedly querytask list 502, obtain the next task therein, and perform this task untiltask list 502 is empty or another stopping condition has been reached.

To facilitate discovery, proxy servers 312 may be configured withinformation regarding one or more subnets in managed network 300 thatare reachable by way of proxy servers 312. For instance, proxy servers312 may be given the IP address range 192.168.0/24 as a subnet. Then,computational instance 322 may store this information in CMDB 500 andplace tasks in task list 502 for discovery of devices at each of theseaddresses.

FIG. 5A also depicts devices, applications, and services in managednetwork 300 as configuration items 504, 506, 508, 510, and 512. As notedabove, these configuration items represent a set of physical and/orvirtual devices (e.g., client devices, server devices, routers, orvirtual machines), applications executing thereon (e.g., web servers,email servers, databases, or storage arrays), relationshipstherebetween, as well as services that involve multiple individualconfiguration items.

Placing the tasks in task list 502 may trigger or otherwise cause proxyservers 312 to begin discovery. Alternatively or additionally, discoverymay be manually triggered or automatically triggered based on triggeringevents (e.g., discovery may automatically begin once per day at aparticular time).

In general, discovery may proceed in four logical phases: scanning,classification, identification, and exploration. Each phase of discoveryinvolves various types of probe messages being transmitted by proxyservers 312 to one or more devices in managed network 300. The responsesto these probes may be received and processed by proxy servers 312, andrepresentations thereof may be transmitted to CMDB 500. Thus, each phasecan result in more configuration items being discovered and stored inCMDB 500.

In the scanning phase, proxy servers 312 may probe each IP address inthe specified range of IP addresses for open Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to determinethe general type of device. The presence of such open ports at an IPaddress may indicate that a particular application is operating on thedevice that is assigned the IP address, which in turn may identify theoperating system used by the device. For example, if TCP port 135 isopen, then the device is likely executing a WINDOWS® operating system.Similarly, if TCP port 22 is open, then the device is likely executing aUNIX® operating system, such as LINUX®. If UDP port 161 is open, thenthe device may be able to be further identified through the SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP). Other possibilities exist. Once thepresence of a device at a particular IP address and its open ports havebeen discovered, these configuration items are saved in CMDB 500.

In the classification phase, proxy servers 312 may further probe eachdiscovered device to determine the version of its operating system. Theprobes used for a particular device are based on information gatheredabout the devices during the scanning phase. For example, if a device isfound with TCP port 22 open, a set of UNIX®-specific probes may be used.Likewise, if a device is found with TCP port 135 open, a set ofWINDOWS®-specific probes may be used. For either case, an appropriateset of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxy servers 312 tocarry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312 logging on, orotherwise accessing information from the particular device. Forinstance, if TCP port 22 is open, proxy servers 312 may be instructed toinitiate a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the particular device andobtain information about the operating system thereon from particularlocations in the file system. Based on this information, the operatingsystem may be determined. As an example, a UNIX® device with TCP port 22open may be classified as AIX®, HPUX, LINUX®, MACOS®, or SOLARIS®. Thisclassification information may be stored as one or more configurationitems in CMDB 500.

In the identification phase, proxy servers 312 may determine specificdetails about a classified device. The probes used during this phase maybe based on information gathered about the particular devices during theclassification phase. For example, if a device was classified as LINUX®,a set of LINUX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise if a device wasclassified as WINDOWS® 2012, as a set of WINDOWS®-2012-specific probesmay be used. As was the case for the classification phase, anappropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxyservers 312 to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312reading information from the particular device, such as basicinput/output system (BIOS) information, serial numbers, networkinterface information, media access control address(es) assigned tothese network interface(s), IP address(es) used by the particular deviceand so on. This identification information may be stored as one or moreconfiguration items in CMDB 500.

In the exploration phase, proxy servers 312 may determine furtherdetails about the operational state of a classified device. The probesused during this phase may be based on information gathered about theparticular devices during the classification phase and/or theidentification phase. Again, an appropriate set of tasks may be placedin task list 502 for proxy servers 312 to carry out. These tasks mayresult in proxy servers 312 reading additional information from theparticular device, such as processor information, memory information,lists of running processes (applications), and so on. Once more, thediscovered information may be stored as one or more configuration itemsin CMDB 500.

Running discovery on a network device, such as a router, may utilizeSNMP. Instead of or in addition to determining a list of runningprocesses or other application-related information, discovery maydetermine additional subnets known to the router and the operationalstate of the router's network interfaces (e.g., active, inactive, queuelength, number of packets dropped, etc.). The IP addresses of theadditional subnets may be candidates for further discovery procedures.Thus, discovery may progress iteratively or recursively.

Once discovery completes, a snapshot representation of each discovereddevice, application, and service is available in CMDB 500. For example,after discovery, operating system version, hardware configuration andnetwork configuration details for client devices, server devices, androuters in managed network 300, as well as applications executingthereon, may be stored. This collected information may be presented to auser in various ways to allow the user to view the hardware compositionand operational status of devices, as well as the characteristics ofservices that span multiple devices and applications.

Furthermore, CMDB 500 may include entries regarding dependencies andrelationships between configuration items. More specifically, anapplication that is executing on a particular server device, as well asthe services that rely on this application, may be represented as suchin CMDB 500. For instance, suppose that a database application isexecuting on a server device, and that this database application is usedby a new employee onboarding service as well as a payroll service. Thus,if the server device is taken out of operation for maintenance, it isclear that the employee onboarding service and payroll service will beimpacted. Likewise, the dependencies and relationships betweenconfiguration items may be able to represent the services impacted whena particular router fails.

In general, dependencies and relationships between configuration itemsbe displayed on a web-based interface and represented in a hierarchicalfashion. Thus, adding, changing, or removing such dependencies andrelationships may be accomplished by way of this interface.

Furthermore, users from managed network 300 may develop workflows thatallow certain coordinated activities to take place across multiplediscovered devices. For instance, an IT workflow might allow the user tochange the common administrator password to all discovered LINUX®devices in single operation.

In order for discovery to take place in the manner described above,proxy servers 312, CMDB 500, and/or one or more credential stores may beconfigured with credentials for one or more of the devices to bediscovered. Credentials may include any type of information needed inorder to access the devices. These may include userid/password pairs,certificates, and so on. In some embodiments, these credentials may bestored in encrypted fields of CMDB 500. Proxy servers 312 may containthe decryption key for the credentials so that proxy servers 312 can usethese credentials to log on to or otherwise access devices beingdiscovered.

The discovery process is depicted as a flow chart in FIG. 5B. At block520, the task list in the computational instance is populated, forinstance, with a range of IP addresses. At block 522, the scanning phasetakes place. Thus, the proxy servers probe the IP addresses for devicesusing these IP addresses, and attempt to determine the operating systemsthat are executing on these devices. At block 524, the classificationphase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operatingsystem version of the discovered devices. At block 526, theidentification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determinethe hardware and/or software configuration of the discovered devices. Atblock 528, the exploration phase takes place. The proxy servers attemptto determine the operational state and applications executing on thediscovered devices. At block 530, further editing of the configurationitems representing the discovered devices and applications may takeplace. This editing may be automated and/or manual in nature.

The blocks represented in FIG. 5B are for purpose of example. Discoverymay be a highly configurable procedure that can have more or fewerphases, and the operations of each phase may vary. In some cases, one ormore phases may be customized, or may otherwise deviate from theexemplary descriptions above.

V. EXAMPLE GATEWAY DEVICE CONNECTIVITY, CONFIGURATION, AND FEATURES

FIG. 6 depicts gateway device 600 disposed within managed network 300.Gateway device 600 is communicatively coupled to gateway device 602 incomputational instance 322. These gateway devices may communicate usinga VPN (as represented by the large arrow between them), and thereforemay take on the functionality associated with VPN gateway 412 and VPNgateway 402, respectively, of FIG. 4. By way of the VPN, devices onmanaged network 300 may directly or indirectly access information indatabase 612 (which may be a CMDB) and/or other databases.

This VPN configuration (which may be based on IPSEC, TLS, or some othertype of secure connection) may involve one or more remote subnets of IPaddresses being assigned to computational instance 322. Thus, devices onmanaged network 300 may communicate with devices in computationalinstance 322 that are assigned IP addresses from these one or moreremote subnets.

A. Mitigation of Security Threats

As discussed above, certain types of network activity can cause remotenetwork management platform 320, which provides computational instance322, to conclude that computational instance 322 is under attack. Forinstance, penetration testing performed by devices on managed network300 may reach the remote subnets, and may appear to be a malicious probeof remote network management platform 320. Of course, any actualmalicious probes of remote network management platform 320 bycompromised devices on managed network 300 may be viewed as threats aswell.

More particularly, “hackers” or other actors with bad intent may seek todeploy malware or similar tools in managed network 300, or otherwisegain access to devices on this network. Vectors of deployment includeemail phishing attacks, mobile applications, and software defects ingeneral, as well as social engineering. Once a device is compromised,the attacker may attempt to identify other vulnerable devices that canpotentially expand the attacker's foothold. To identify further devices,the attacker may perform scans that resemble legitimate penetrationtests.

Thus, to the extent that these attacks reach computational instance 322by way of the VPN between gateway device 600 and gateway device 602,remote network management platform 320 may be unable to determinewhether the attacks are a genuine threat, or benign penetration testingby managed network 300. As a consequence, remote network managementplatform 320 may automatically shut down some or all access tocomputational instance 322 when such activity is detected. When thishappens, the services of computational instance 322 may be unavailablefor dozens, hundreds, or thousands of individuals using managed network300.

In order to overcome this problem, gateway device 600 may be configuredwith one or more ranges (or lists) of IP addresses assigned to managednetwork 300. Each range may contain at least one IP address. Whennetwork traffic (e.g., packets) arrive at gateway device 600 with asource IP address which is within one of these ranges, gateway device600 may discard, drop, or otherwise not forward the network traffic tocomputational instance 322. Network traffic with source IP addresses notwithin any of the ranges may be forwarded as usual to computationalinstance 322.

Therefore, the operator of managed network 300 can configure, in gatewaydevice 600, the IP addresses of devices used for penetration testing onmanaged network 300. In this way, network traffic from the penetrationtests will not reach computational instance 322. Additionally, the IPaddresses of devices on managed network 300 that do not need tocommunicate with computational instance 322 may also be configured ingateway device 600.

As an example, FIG. 6 shows gateway device 600 configured with networkaddresses 604. As shown, network addresses 604 include three IP addressranges (alternatively, a list with three entries). These ranges are192.168.0.0/16, 10.10.1.2, and 10.11.3.0-10.11.3.15. The notation192.168.0.0/16 is shorthand for the range 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255(the “/16” indicates that the 16 most significant bits are static).Network traffic reaching gateway device 600 from a source address in oneof these ranges may be discarded, dropped, or otherwise not forwarded tocomputational instance 322.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, network traffic from device 606, with IPaddress 10.10.1.2, is blocked, because IP address 10.10.1.2 is includedin addresses 604. Similarly, network traffic from device 610, with IPaddress 10.11.3.8, is blocked, because IP address 10.11.3.8 is includedthe range 10.11.3.0-10.11.3.15. However, network traffic from device608, with IP address 10.10.1.5, is not blocked because it is notincluded in addresses 604.

Still, this mechanism is not enough. Modern enterprise networks arelarge, with a diverse array of devices coming to and being removed fromthe network. Many enterprise users have both laptops and mobile devicesthat spend a significant amount of time both inside and outside of theenterprise network. Thus, they can be infected with a virus, Trojanhorse, or some other form of malware while on a public network, thenbring this threat into the enterprise.

Furthermore, threat vectors within an enterprise network are becomingmore numerous and sophisticated. For instance, a successful emailphishing attack can result in a user inadvertently downloading malwareto his or her device from an innocent-looking email attachment. Thismalware may then seek to discover sensitive information on the device,determine the topological configuration of the enterprise network,and/or spread to other devices on the network.

Thus, a static configuration of IP address ranges is unlikely to be ableto keep up with devices that access managed network 300 dynamically (andtherefore may be assigned different IP addresses each time), or deviceswith relatively static IP address assignments that suddenly becomecompromised.

B. Dynamic Updates to Blocked Network Addresses

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict example architectures that support dynamicallydetecting when a device on managed network 300 is potentiallycompromised, and responsively updating network addresses 604 to blocknetwork traffic sourced by the device's network addresses(es) from beingrouted to computational instance 322. Notably, managed network 300 mayinclude a number of security devices that detect various types ofthreats, and these devices may provide network addresses associated withthese threats to gateway device 600. Upon receipt of these addresses,gateway device 600 may update network addresses 604 accordingly.

As noted above, a firewall, such as firewall 700, may be one or morespecialized routers or server devices that protect managed network 300from unauthorized attempts to access the devices, applications, andservices therein, while allowing authorized communication.

Intrusion detection system 702 may be a device or application thatmonitors a network (usually in a passive fashion) for malicious activityor policy violations. Intrusion prevention system 704 may be a form ofintrusion detection system that has at least some capability to respondto detected threats. For instance, an intrusion prevention system may beable to dynamically configure a firewall to block an attack ordynamically change the content of network traffic involved in theattack. For purposes of FIG. 7A, there might not be a significantdifference between intrusion detection system 702 and intrusionprevention system 704.

Management device 706 may be a computing device accessed by a human(e.g., a system administrator of managed network 300). From managementdevice 706, the human may be able to manually configure networkaddresses 604 to include additional addresses suspected of beingassociated with a threat. Also, particular addresses may be removed fromnetwork addresses 604 when a threat associated with those particularaddresses is considered to be resolved.

Security policy server 708 may be a device that contains a set ofgeneral security policies for managed network 300, such as firewallpolicies, router policies, endpoint policies, access control lists, andso on. From time to time, security policy server 708 may providerelevant portions of these policies to firewalls, routers, endpoints,and so on.

Endpoint antivirus software 710 may be deployed throughout managednetwork on various computing devices (e.g., PCs, laptops, and so on).This software may periodically or dynamically scan the workingenvironment of these computing devices for security threats and/oranomalies.

For purpose of this discussion, firewall 700, intrusion detection system702, intrusion prevention system 704, management device 706, securitypolicy server 708, and endpoint antivirus software 710 are consideredexamples of gateway controller devices. Other examples exist. A gatewaycontroller device is any device that can directly or indirectly updatenetwork addresses 604 on gateway device 600. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7A,each of these types of gateway controller device may dynamically provideone or more additional addresses for inclusion within network addresses604.

FIG. 7B depicts an alternative arrangement of the same devices. Insteadof providing network addresses directly to gateway device 600, firewall700, intrusion detection system 702, intrusion prevention system 704,and endpoint antivirus software 710 provide logs to security policyserver 708 (or a similar device). Each of these logs may be in therespective sender's native format. Security policy server 708 thenparses these logs to identify additional network addresses to be addedto network addresses 604.

A sample log entry is shown below. The format of this log entry is forpurpose of example. Numerous other log entry formats may be used, andvarious devices may support different formats.

Jan 29, 2017 11:47:39 10.11.4.2 timezone=“PST” device_name=“CR25iNG”log_id=020803407001 log_type=“IDS” priority=Warning ids_policy_id=5msg=“Port scan detected” src_ip=10.11.4.7 dst_ip=10.11.4.17protocol=“TCP”

This particular log entry indicates that at 11:47 AM Pacific StandardTime on Jan. 29, 2017, a device with an IP address of 10.11.4.2 detecteda TCP port scan originating from a device with an IP address of10.11.4.7 and targeting a device with an IP address of 10.11.4.17. Aport scan can be part of a penetration test, but also could be malwareseeking to discover known security flaws in network applicationsavailable at the device with the IP address of 10.11.4.17. The type oflog is “IDS” and the priority level is “Warning”. This indicates thatthe device with the IP address of 10.11.4.2 is probably an IDS thatpassively detected the port scan, and that this activity is cause forconcern.

Security policy server 708 may parse this log entry by applyingparticular rules. These rules may indicate that when the entry'spriority level is “Warning” or higher, the source IP address that causedthe logged event should be added to network addresses 604. Therefore,security policy server 708 may parse the entry for the “priority=” termand the “src_ip=” term. If the priority level is “Warning” as it is inthis example, security policy server 708 may provide the IP address of“10.11.4.7” to gateway device 600. In response, gateway device 600 mayadd this address to network addresses 604.

In this way, computational instance 322 can be quickly protected fromemerging security threats and threat vectors originating from managednetwork 300.

C. Selective Database Field Encryption and Decryption

Given the position of the gateway device in the network architecture,this device may also be able to carry out additional security measures.For example, devices on a managed network may store sensitiveinformation (e.g., passwords, social security numbers, birthdays, creditcard numbers, etc.) in a database within a computational instance. Whilethis information is encrypted when traveling between the gateway deviceand the computational instance, it may be stored in plaintext formatotherwise. Alternatively, the database may separately encrypt/decryptthe information, but this may require that the cryptographic keys fordoing so are stored in the computational instance. As a result, thesestored keys can be an attractive target for hackers.

As an alternative, the gateway device may be configured to selectivelyencrypt certain information that is targeted for storage in particulardatabase fields. In other words, the gateway device may parse incomingstorage commands for these fields, encrypt their contents, and forwardthe storage commands with the encrypted fields to the database forstorage. When retrieving this information from the database, the reverseprocess may take place. This results in the information in these fieldsbeing encrypted when stored in the computational instance and whencommunicated between the managed network and the computational instance.Additionally, the cryptographic keys can be stored in the managednetwork rather than the computational instance.

FIG. 7C depicts client device 720 storing and retrieving data fromdatabase 726 by way of gateway device 722. As discussed above, gatewaydevice 722 may be disposed within a managed network and database 726 maybe disposed within a computational instance of a remote networkmanagement platform. Gateway device 722 may communicate with thecomputational instance over a secure connection, such as a VPN.

At step 730, gateway controller device 724 may transmit a command togateway device 722. The command may instruct gateway device 722 toencrypt occurrences of field X in writes to database 726.

At step 732, client device 720 may transmit, to gateway device 722, adatabase storage command with unencrypted field X. While this databasestorage command may be formatted in various ways, an example JavaScriptObject Notation (JSON) format is shown below.

{   “employees”:  [     {       “emp_id”: “12345”,       “fname”:“Alice”,       “lname”: “Jones”,       “SSN”: “000-00-0000”     }   ] }

Here, it is assumed that field X refers to the “SSN” field, a field thatcontains sensitive personal information. Accordingly, at step 734,gateway device 722 may parse the storage command for this field. Afterthe field is found, at step 736, gateway device 722 may encrypt thefield. After doing so, the storage command may appear as shown below.Notably, only the contents of the “SSN” field have been encrypted. Thekey used for this encryption may be stored at gateway device 722 or in amanner such that it is accessible to gateway device 722.

{   “employees”:  [     {       “emp_id”: “12345”,       “fname”:“Alice”,       “lname”: “Jones”,       “SSN”: “qIqpcy6LAGakrSM”     }  ] }

At step 738, gateway device 722 may transmit the storage command withthe encrypted field to database 726. At step 740, database 726 maystore, in one or more retrievable records, the fields in the storagecommand. Notably, the contents of the “SSN” field are stored asencrypted.

At step 742, client device 720 may transmit, to gateway device 722, adatabase retrieval command for the stored record containing theunencrypted SSN field. At step 744, gateway device 722 may transmit theretrieval command to database 726. At step 746, after retrieving therecord, database 726 may transmit the record to gateway device 722. Thecontents of the “SSN” field may be encrypted as shown above.

At step 748, gateway device 722 may use the stored key to decrypt theencrypted “SSN” field. At step 750, gateway device 722 may transmit therecord, with the “SSN” field decrypted, to client device 720.

In some embodiments, gateway device 722 may be configured to encrypt oneor more fields within one or more records. To do so, gateway device 722may perform its parsing and analysis of the storage command on thecommand as a whole, rather than on individual packets in which thestorage command is transmitted. In other words, gateway device 722 maywait until some or all packets of a multi-packet message are receivedbefore attempting to parse any storage commands in this message.

Furthermore, in the case that the storage command seeks to store a fileeither in database 726 or in a file system associated with database 726,gateway device 722 may be configured to encrypt this file. For instance,gateway device 722 may be configured to encrypt any file stored inassociation with database 726.

The embodiments of this subsection may operate on a standalone basis orbe combined with those of the previous subsection. For example, when thestorage command is received at step 732, gateway device 722 may comparethe source IP address of the storage command to any IP address rangesthat are excluded from accessing the computational instance. Only if thesource IP address of the storage command is not within any of theseranges will gateway device 722 encrypt the appropriate fields andtransmit the storage command with these fields encrypted to database726. This transmission of the storage command may also be subject to anyencryption typically performed by the secure connection between gatewaydevice 722 and the computational instance.

This may result in two layers of encryption being applied—encryption ofall communication between gateway device 722 and an associated gatewayin the computational instance using a first cryptosystem, and encryptionof specific fields and/or files stored in database 728 using a secondcryptosystem. The first and second cryptosystems may use differentcryptographic techniques and/or different keys.

In addition to encryption functionality, gateway device 722 may also“tokenize” data within fields sent from client device 720 to database726. Tokenization involves predefined patterns of the data beingreplaced by one or more tokens prior to gateway device 722 transmittingthe data. Patterns may be specified as a sequence of characters or as aregular expression, for instance. Gateway device 722 replaces eachstring matching the pattern with a token of the same size as the string.In the opposite direction (from database 726 to client device 720),gateway device 722 replaces the token with the string. To do this,gateway device 722 may store, in a local database, strings that havematched patterns and their associated tokens.

Tokens may be generated by gateway device 722 applying a randomizinghash function (e.g., a one-way function) to strings that match patterns.This results in unique, yet separate, randomly generated tokens toreplace strings. A difference between encrypting data and tokenizingdata is that tokenizing data does not require specification or use of anencryption key or a specific type of encryption. Thus, tokenizing datais simpler, while encrypting the data is more secure.

VI. EXAMPLE OPERATIONS

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flow charts illustrating example embodiments. Theprocesses illustrated by FIGS. 8A and 8B may be carried out by acomputing device, such as computing device 100, and/or a cluster ofcomputing devices, such as server cluster 200. However, the processescan be carried out by other types of devices or device subsystems. Forexample, the processes could be carried out by a portable computer, suchas a laptop or a tablet device. Thus, a gateway device may take the formof any of these components.

The embodiments of FIGS. 8A and 8B may be simplified by the removal ofany one or more of the features shown therein. Further, theseembodiments may be combined with features, aspects, and/orimplementations of any of the previous figures or otherwise describedherein.

Block 800 of FIG. 8A may involve receiving, by a gateway device disposedwithin a managed network and communicatively coupled to a computationalinstance of a remote network management platform, network traffic fromcomputing devices on the managed network. The network traffic mayspecify destinations within the computational instance. The gatewaydevice may be configured with a list of network addresses assigned tothe managed network.

Block 802 may involve discarding, by the gateway device, a first unit ofthe network traffic. The first unit of the network traffic may havesource addresses that are specified in the list. Herein, a “unit ofnetwork traffic” may refer to one or more packets or messages.

Block 804 may involve, for a second unit of the network traffic withsource addresses that are not specified by the list, the gateway device(i) encrypting, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the second unitof the network traffic, and (ii) transmitting the encrypted packets fromthe gateway device to the computational instance.

Block 806 may involve receiving, by the gateway device and from agateway controller device, an instruction to update the list to includean additional network address. The additional network address may bederived from security event log data that specifies the additionalnetwork address. The additional network address may be assigned to aparticular computing device on the managed network that is suspected ofviolating a security policy.

Block 808 may involve updating, by the gateway device, the list toinclude the additional network address.

In some embodiments, the computational instance contains a database thatdefines a plurality of database fields. These embodiments may alsoinvolve a second gateway controller device disposed within the managednetwork and communicatively coupled to the gateway device. The secondgateway controller device may be configured to: obtain a representationof a particular database field that is defined in the plurality ofdatabase fields, and transmit, to the gateway device, the representationof the particular database field. The gateway device may be furtherconfigured to: receive the representation of the particular databasefield, parse the second unit of the network traffic for data classifiedin the particular database field, and prior to encrypting the payloadsof each packet of the second unit of the network traffic, individuallyencrypt the data classified in the particular database field. In someembodiments, the second gateway controller device includes or is thesame as the first gateway controller device.

In some embodiments, the second unit of the network traffic contains theparticular database field in a markup language representation (e.g.,HTML or XML). Parsing the second unit of the network traffic for dataclassified in the particular database field may involve parsing themarkup language representation for the particular database field.

In some embodiments, the second unit of the network traffic contains theparticular database field in a data interchange format representation(e.g., JSON). Parsing the second unit of the network traffic for dataclassified in the particular database field may involve parsing the datainterchange format representation for the particular database field.

In some embodiments, encrypting the payloads of each packet of thesecond unit of the network traffic uses a first type of cryptography,and individually encrypting the data classified in the particulardatabase field uses a second type of cryptography. The individuallyencrypted data might not be able to be decrypted using the first type ofcryptography.

In some embodiments, transmitting the encrypted packets from the gatewaydevice to the computational instance comprises transmitting theencrypted packets to a second gateway device within the computationalinstance. The second gateway device may be configured to decrypt thepackets using the first type of cryptography. The second gateway devicemay forward the individually encrypted data in the particular databasefield to the database.

In some embodiments, the particular database field specifies a file typethat is stored in a file system associated with the database. Parsingthe second unit of the network traffic for data classified in theparticular database field may involve parsing the second unit of thenetwork traffic for a file of the file type. Individually encrypting thedata classified in the particular database field may involve encryptingthe file.

In some embodiments, encryption of the payloads of each packet of thesecond unit of the network traffic comprises transport layer securityencryption.

In some embodiments, the gateway controller device is one of anintrusion detection system, intrusion prevention system, or firewall.Alternatively, the gateway controller device receives the security eventlog data from one of an intrusion detection system, intrusion preventionsystem, or firewall.

In some embodiments, the gateway controller device is further configuredto parse the security event log data to determine that the additionalnetwork address is associated with a suspected violation of the securitypolicy.

FIG. 8B is a flow chart depicting an alternative embodiment. In FIG. 8B,block 810 may involve receiving, by a gateway device disposed within amanaged network and communicatively coupled to a computational instanceof a remote network management platform, a representation of aparticular database field or file type. The computational instance maycontain a database that defines the particular database field and/orsupports storage of the file type.

Block 812 may involve receiving, by the gateway device, network trafficfrom computing devices on the managed network. The network traffic mayspecify destinations within the computational instance. The gatewaydevice may be configured with a list of network addresses assigned tothe managed network.

Block 814 may involve determining, by the gateway device, that a unit ofthe network traffic has a source address that is not specified in thelist and is to be encrypted using a first type of cryptography.

Block 816, may involve, possibly in response to determining that theunit of the network traffic has the source address that is not specifiedin the list, the gateway device: (i) parsing the unit of the networktraffic for data classified in the particular database field or the filetype, (ii) individually encrypting the data classified in the particulardatabase field or the file type using a second type of cryptography,(iii) encrypting, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the unit of thenetwork traffic using the first type of cryptography, and (iv)transmitting the encrypted packets from the gateway device to thecomputational instance.

The embodiments of FIG. 8B may include any of the features, variations,and/or alternative embodiments discussed in connection with FIG. 8A orany previous figure.

VII. CONCLUSION

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its scope, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuseswithin the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those describedherein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

The above detailed description describes various features and operationsof the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to theaccompanying figures. The example embodiments described herein and inthe figures are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments can beutilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readilyunderstood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generallydescribed herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged,substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

With respect to any or all of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, andflow charts in the figures and as discussed herein, each step, block,and/or communication can represent a processing of information and/or atransmission of information in accordance with example embodiments.Alternative embodiments are included within the scope of these exampleembodiments. In these alternative embodiments, for example, operationsdescribed as steps, blocks, transmissions, communications, requests,responses, and/or messages can be executed out of order from that shownor discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order,depending on the functionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocksand/or operations can be used with any of the message flow diagrams,scenarios, and flow charts discussed herein, and these message flowdiagrams, scenarios, and flow charts can be combined with one another,in part or in whole.

A step or block that represents a processing of information cancorrespond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specificlogical functions of a herein-described method or technique.Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents aprocessing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or aportion of program code (including related data). The program code caninclude one or more instructions executable by a processor forimplementing specific logical operations or actions in the method ortechnique. The program code and/or related data can be stored on anytype of computer readable medium such as a storage device including RAM,a disk drive, a solid state drive, or another storage medium.

The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computerreadable media such as computer readable media that store data for shortperiods of time like register memory and processor cache. The computerreadable media can further include non-transitory computer readablemedia that store program code and/or data for longer periods of time.Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistentlong term storage, like ROM, optical or magnetic disks, solid statedrives, compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. Thecomputer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatilestorage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computerreadable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

Moreover, a step or block that represents one or more informationtransmissions can correspond to information transmissions betweensoftware and/or hardware modules in the same physical device. However,other information transmissions can be between software modules and/orhardware modules in different physical devices.

The particular arrangements shown in the figures should not be viewed aslimiting. It should be understood that other embodiments can includemore or less of each element shown in a given figure. Further, some ofthe illustrated elements can be combined or omitted. Yet further, anexample embodiment can include elements that are not illustrated in thefigures.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopebeing indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a gateway device disposedwithin a managed network and communicatively coupled to a computationalinstance of a remote network management platform, wherein the gatewaydevice is configured with a list of network addresses assigned to themanaged network, and wherein the gateway device is configured to:receive network traffic from computing devices on the managed network,wherein the network traffic specifies destinations within thecomputational instance, compare source addresses of the network trafficto the network addresses in the list, discard a first unit of thenetwork traffic, wherein the first unit of the network traffic hassource addresses that are specified in the list, and for a second unitof the network traffic with source addresses that are not specified bythe list, (i) encrypt, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the secondunit of the network traffic, and (ii) transmit the encrypted packetsfrom the gateway device to the computational instance; and a gatewaycontroller device disposed within the managed network andcommunicatively coupled to the gateway device, wherein the gatewaycontroller device is configured to: obtain security event log data thatspecifies an additional network address assigned to a particularcomputing device on the managed network, wherein the particularcomputing device is suspected of violating a security policy, andtransmit, to the gateway device, an instruction to update the list toinclude the additional network address specified by the security eventlog data.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway device isfurther configured to: receive the instruction, and update the list toinclude the additional network address specified by the security eventlog data.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computational instancecontains a database that defines a plurality of database fields, thesystem further comprising: a second gateway controller device disposedwithin the managed network and communicatively coupled to the gatewaydevice, wherein the second gateway controller device is configured to:obtain a representation of a particular database field that is definedin the plurality of database fields, and transmit, to the gatewaydevice, the representation of the particular database field; and whereinthe gateway device is further configured to: receive the representationof the particular database field, parse the second unit of the networktraffic for data classified in the particular database field, and priorto encrypting the payloads of each packet of the second unit of thenetwork traffic, individually encrypt the data classified in theparticular database field.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the secondunit of network the traffic contains the particular database field in amarkup language representation, and wherein parsing the second unit ofthe network traffic for data classified in the particular database fieldcomprises parsing the markup language representation for the particulardatabase field.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein the second unit of thenetwork traffic contains the particular database field in a datainterchange format representation, and wherein parsing the second unitof the network traffic for data classified in the particular databasefield comprises parsing the data interchange format representation forthe particular database field.
 6. The system of claim 3, wherein thesecond gateway controller device comprises the first gateway controllerdevice.
 7. The system of claim 3, wherein encrypting the payloads ofeach packet of the second unit of the network traffic uses a first typeof cryptography, and wherein individually encrypting the data classifiedin the particular database field uses a second type of cryptography,wherein the individually encrypted data cannot be decrypted using thefirst type of cryptography.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereintransmitting the encrypted packets from the gateway device to thecomputational instance comprises transmitting the encrypted packets to asecond gateway device within the computational instance, wherein thesecond gateway device is configured to decrypt the packets using thefirst type of cryptography, and wherein the second gateway deviceforwards the individually encrypted data in the particular databasefield to the database.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the particulardatabase field specifies a file type that is stored in a file systemassociated with the database, wherein parsing the second unit of thenetwork traffic for data classified in the particular database fieldcomprises parsing the second unit of the network traffic for a file ofthe file type, and wherein individually encrypting the data classifiedin the particular database field comprises encrypting the file.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein encryption of the payloads of each packet ofthe second unit of the network traffic comprises transport layersecurity encryption.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the gatewaycontroller device is one of an intrusion detection system, intrusionprevention system, or firewall.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein thegateway controller device receives the security event log data from oneof an intrusion detection system, intrusion prevention system, orfirewall.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway controllerdevice is further configured to parse the security event log data todetermine that the additional network address is associated with asuspected violation of the security policy.
 14. A method comprising:receiving, by a gateway device disposed within a managed network andcommunicatively coupled to a computational instance of a remote networkmanagement platform, network traffic from computing devices on themanaged network, wherein the network traffic specifies destinationswithin the computational instance, and wherein the gateway device isconfigured with a list of network addresses assigned to the managednetwork; discarding, by the gateway device, a first unit of the networktraffic, wherein the first unit of the network traffic has sourceaddresses that are specified in the list; for a second unit of thenetwork traffic with source addresses that are not specified by thelist, the gateway device (i) encrypting, as a whole, payloads of eachpacket of the second unit of the network traffic, and (ii) transmittingthe encrypted packets from the gateway device to the computationalinstance; receiving, by the gateway device and from a gateway controllerdevice, an instruction to update the list to include an additionalnetwork address, wherein the additional network address is derived fromsecurity event log data that specifies the additional network address,and wherein the additional network address is assigned to a particularcomputing device on the managed network that is suspected of violating asecurity policy; and updating, by the gateway device, the list toinclude the additional network address.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the second unit of the network traffic contains the particulardatabase field in a data interchange format representation, and whereinparsing the second unit of the network traffic for data classified inthe particular database field comprises parsing the data interchangeformat representation for the particular database field
 16. The methodof claim 14, wherein the computational instance contains a database thatdefines a plurality of database fields, the method further comprising:receiving, from a second gateway controller device, the representationof a particular database field defined in the plurality of databasefields; parsing the second unit of the network traffic for dataclassified in the particular database field; and prior to encrypting thepayloads of each packet of the second unit of the network traffic,individually encrypting the data classified in the particular databasefield.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein encrypting payloads of eachpacket of the second unit of the network traffic uses a first type ofcryptography, and wherein individually encrypting the data classified inthe particular database field uses a second type of cryptography,wherein the individually encrypted data cannot be decrypted using thefirst type of cryptography.
 18. The method of claim 17, whereintransmitting the encrypted packets from the gateway device to thecomputational instance comprises transmitting the encrypted packets to asecond gateway device disposed within the computational instance,wherein the second gateway device is configured to decrypt the packetsusing the first type of cryptography, and wherein the individuallyencrypted data in the particular database field is transmitted to thedatabase.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the particular databasefield specifies a file type that is stored in a file system associatedwith the database, wherein parsing the second unit of the networktraffic for data classified in the particular database field comprisesparsing the second unit of the network traffic for a file of the filetype, and wherein individually encrypting the data classified in theparticular database field comprises encrypting the file.
 20. A methodcomprising: receiving, by a gateway device disposed within a managednetwork and communicatively coupled to a computational instance of aremote network management platform, a representation of a particulardatabase field or file type, wherein the computational instance containsa database that defines the particular database field or supportsstorage of the file type; receiving, by the gateway device, networktraffic from computing devices on the managed network, wherein thenetwork traffic specifies destinations within the computationalinstance, and wherein the gateway device is configured with a list ofnetwork addresses assigned to the managed network; determining, by thegateway device, that a unit of the network traffic has a source addressthat is not specified in the list and is to be encrypted using a firsttype of cryptography; and in response to determining that the unit ofthe network traffic has the source address that is not specified in thelist, the gateway device: (i) parsing the unit of the network trafficfor data classified in the particular database field or the file type,(ii) individually encrypting the data classified in the particulardatabase field or the file type using a second type of cryptography,(iii) encrypting, as a whole, payloads of each packet of the unit of thenetwork traffic using the first type of cryptography, and (iv)transmitting the encrypted packets from the gateway device to thecomputational instance.